Understanding the Camp Lejeune Water Contamination
For over three decades, from 1953 to 1987, the water supply at U.S. Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune in North Carolina was contaminated with hazardous chemicals. Toxic substances such as trichloroethylene (TCE), perchloroethylene (PCE), benzene, and vinyl chloride, commonly used in cleaning solvents and manufacturing, seeped into the water treatment systems. This environmental catastrophe is one of the most significant in our nation's history, affecting potentially one million military personnel and their families. Despite early indications of contamination in the early 1980s, the most contaminated wells were not closed until 1985, prolonging the exposure of thousands to these harmful chemicals.